Method, article of manufacture and apparatus for processing an electronic mail document

Abstract

A method, article of manufacture, and apparatus for processing an electronic mail (e-mail) document having a data portion. In one embodiment, a determination is made as to whether a recipient computer addressed in the e-mail document has received the data portion. The data portion is sent to the recipient computer if the recipient computer has not previously received the data portion. In another embodiment, at least one partial message previously parsed from an e-mail document at the sender computer is received at a recipient computer. Each partial message comprises a data portion if the data portion was not previously received, or comprises a pointer referencing the data portion in a recipient computer if the data portion was previously received. The e-mail document is constructed from the at least one partial message.

1. A method for sending an electronic mail document containing a data portion, the method comprising:
 determining whether a recipient computer addressed in the electronic mail document has previously received the data portion; 
 sending the data portion to the recipient computer if the recipient computer has not previously received the data portion; 
 sending a pointer to the recipient computer if the recipient computer has previously received the data portion, where the pointer references an available local copy of the data portion at the recipient computer; and 
 sending the data portion if the data portion is unavailable at the recipient computer. 
 
   
   
     2. The method of  claim 1  wherein sending the data portion when the data portion is unavailable at the recipient computer is performed in response to a request by the recipient computer. 
   
   
     3. The method of  claim 1  wherein the electronic mail document comprises at least two levels of electronic mail messages, in which an electronic mail message at a higher level of the electronic mail document is nested in an electronic mail message at a lower level of the electronic mail document, and wherein determining, sending the data portion, and sending the pointer are repeated for each level of the electronic mail document. 
   
   
     4. The method of  claim 1  wherein determining comprises:
 identifying a recipient computer as having received the data portion if the recipient computer is addressed in at least one of a TO: field and a CC: field of the data portion. 
 
   
   
     5. The method of  claim 1  wherein the data portion comprises at least one of a text section and an attachment file. 
   
   
     6. The method of  claim 1  wherein the data portion comprises a text section comprising a body of an electronic mail message contained in the electronic mail document. 
   
   
     7. The method of  claim 1  wherein the data portion comprises an attachment file comprising at least one of a text file, a video file, a graphic file, and a data file. 
   
   
     8. A method for processing an electronic mail document received by a recipient computer, the method comprising:
 receiving at least one partial message previously parsed from an electronic mail document at a sender computer, where the at least one partial message comprises a data portion if the data portion has not been previously received by the recipient computer and comprises a pointer referencing an available local copy of the data portion in the recipient computer if the data portion was previously received; 
 determining whether the local copy of the data portion referenced by the pointer is available in a memory unit of the recipient computer; 
 retrieving the local copy of the data portion referenced by the pointer if the local copy of the data portion is available in the memory unit of the recipient computer; and 
 requesting the data portion from a sender computer of the at least one partial message if the local copy of the data portion is unavailable in the memory unit of the recipient computer. 
 
   
   
     9. The method of  claim 8  wherein determining comprises:
 identifying the data portion as available if the at least one partial message has a message identifier that is substantially similar to a message identifier in another electronic mail document in the memory unit of the recipient computer. 
 
   
   
     10. The method of  claim 8  further comprising:
 providing a hyperlink utilized for requesting the data portion from a sender computer of the at least one partial message if the data portion is unavailable in the memory unit of the recipient computer. 
 
   
   
     11. A method for processing an electronic mail document having a data portion, the method comprising:
 determining whether a recipient computer addressed in the electronic mail document has previously received the data portion; 
 sending the data portion from a sender computer to the recipient computer if the recipient computer has not previously received the data portion and the data portion is unavailable at the recipient computer; 
 sending a pointer from a sender computer to the recipient computer if the recipient computer has previously received the data portion, where the pointer is used to reference an available local copy of the data portion at the recipient computer; 
 receiving at least one of the data portion and the pointer at the recipient computer; and 
 constructing the electronic document at the recipient computer, where the electronic document is constructed from at least one of the available local copy of the data portion and the pointer. 
 
   
   
     12. The method of  claim 11  wherein the method is embodied as a program contained in a computer readable medium. 
   
   
     13. An apparatus for sending an electronic mail having a data portion comprising:
 a memory unit for storing a mail routine; and 
 a processor coupled to the memory unit and configured to execute the mail routine retrieved from the memory unit, determine whether a recipient computer addressed in the electronic mail document has previously received the data portion, send the data portion to the recipient computer if the recipient computer not previously received the data portion, and send a pointer to the recipient computer if the recipient computer has previously received the data portion, where the pointer references an available local copy of the data portion at the recipient computer and sending the data portion if the data portion is unavailable at the recipient computer. 
 
   
   
     14. A computer readable medium storing a software program that, when executed by a processor of a computer, causes the computer to perform a method comprising:
 determining whether a recipient computer has previously received an electronic mail document having a data portion; 
 sending the data portion to the recipient computer if the recipient computer has not previously received the data portion; 
 sending a pointer to the recipient computer if the recipient computer has previously received the data portion, where the pointer references an available local copy of the data portion at the recipient computer; and 
 sending the data portion if the data portion is unavailable at the recipient computer. 
 
   
   
     15. The computer readable medium of  claim 14  wherein sending the data portion when the data portion is unavailable at the recipient computer is performed in response to a request by the recipient computer. 
   
   
     16. The computer readable medium of  claim 14  wherein the electronic mail document comprises at least two levels of electronic mail messages, an electronic mail message at a higher level of the electronic mail document is nested in an electronic mail message at a lower level of the electronic mail document, and determining, sending the data portion, and sending the pointer are repeated for each level of the electronic mail document. 
   
   
     17. The computer readable medium of  claim 14  wherein determining comprises:
 identifying a recipient computer as having received the data portion if the recipient computer is addressed in at least one of a TO: field and a CC: field of the electronic mail document. 
 
   
   
     18. The computer readable medium of  claim 14  wherein the data portion comprises at least one of a text section and an attachment file. 
   
   
     19. The computer readable medium of  claim 18  wherein the text section comprises a body of an electronic mail message contained in the electronic mail document. 
   
   
     20. The computer readable medium of  claim 18  wherein the attachment file comprises at least one of a text file, a video file, a graphic file, and a data file. 
   
   
     21. A computer readable medium storing a software program, when said software program executed by a processor of a computer, causes the computer to perform a method comprising:
 receiving at least one partial message previously parsed from an electronic mail document at a sender computer, where the at least one partial message comprises a data portion if the data portion has not been received previously and comprises a pointer referencing an available local copy of the data portion in the recipient computer if the data portion was previously received, 
 determining whether the local copy of the data portion referenced by the pointer is available in a memory unit of the recipient computer; 
 retrieving the local copy of the data portion referenced by the pointer if the local copy of the data portion is available in the memory unit of the recipient computer; and 
 requesting the data portion from a sender computer of the at least one partial message if the local copy of the data portion is unavailable in the memory unit of the recipient computer. 
 
   
   
     22. The computer readable medium of  claim 21  wherein determining comprises:
 identifying the data portion as available if the at least one partial message has a message identifier that is substantially similar to a message identifier in another electronic mail document in the memory unit of the recipient computer. 
 
   
   
     23. The computer readable medium of  claim 21  wherein the method further comprises:
 providing a hyperlink utilized for requesting the data portion from a sender computer of the at least one partial message if the data portion is unavailable in the memory unit of the recipient computer.